Reviewed by:

• Making a Difference: My Fight for Native Rights and Social Justice by Ada Deer
• Allyson Stevenson

Scholars interested in the twentieth-century history of Native American political activism will find the autobiography of Ada Deer essential reading. Making a Difference covers a critical period in the modern struggle for tribal sovereignty. Ada Deer, a Menominee woman, played a valuable role in restoring her community's lands and tribal sovereignty after termination, as well as in protecting tribal interests at the national level. As she narrates her life, reflects on her familial and tribal influences while evaluating her legacy, Deer presents readers with the opportunity to witness the exceptional contribution of a highly educated and dynamic Menominee activist.

I happened to read Making a Difference immediately after completing Brenda Child's Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community (2013). Despite the differences in approach, and tribal affiliation, both books contribute to a growing field that increasingly centers Indigenous women's unacknowledged roles in preserving communities, culture, and families. Whether as exceptional individuals as in the case of Deer, or as mothers, grandmothers, and cultural knowledge holders, Native American women have sustained and continue to sustain connections to lands, languages, and bodies of knowledge that have undergone continued assault from colonial times onward. Growing up in poverty on the beautiful Menominee reservation, but nevertheless provided a deep sense of social justice from her non-Native American mother, Ada Deer's pursuit of Native rights stems from her commitment to Native American sovereignty promised in the treaties with the United States government.

Assisted by historian Theda Perdue, Ada Deer's autobiography spans the period from her birth in 1935 and early years on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin, through her successful role in advocating for restoration of the Menominee's lands and tribal status, and concludes with her time in Washington, DC, as assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs during the Clinton administration. Throughout the book, we are privy to Ada's reflections and we witness her driving ambition to see Native American tribes, systems of governance, and economies be restored through a relationship to the government based on recognition of Native American sovereignty and self-determination.

For readers, it would be helpful to have appendices that include the treaty documents that enshrine the Menominee rights. In addition, as much of her politization stems from the Menominee termination, the book would also benefit from having both the termination acts and restoration acts likewise included for those [End Page 265] interested. Finally, in situating the Menominee people in their tribal homelands, maps to accompany this work would provide the reader with the geographical context that provides much of the specificity of the Menominee tribe's homeland.

审核人：

• 有所作为：我为土著权利和社会正义而战艾达·迪尔 (Ada Deer)
• 艾莉森·史蒂文森

对 20 世纪美洲原住民政治激进主义历史感兴趣的学者会发现 Ada Deer 的自传是必不可少的读物。有所作为涵盖现代部落主权斗争的关键时期。艾达·迪尔 (Ada Deer) 是一名梅诺米尼 (Menominee) 妇女，她在终止协议后恢复其社区的土地和部落主权以及在国家层面保护部落利益方面发挥了宝贵作用。在讲述她的生活、反思她的家庭和部落影响并评估她的遗产时，迪尔让读者有机会见证这位受过高等教育、充满活力的梅诺米尼活动家的非凡贡献。

在读完 Brenda Child 的《共同维护我们的世界：奥吉布韦妇女与社区生存》后，我碰巧读到了《Making a Difference》(2013)。尽管在方法和部落隶属关系方面存在差异，但这两本书都为一个不断发展的领域做出了贡献，该领域越来越多地关注土著妇女在保护社区、文化和家庭方面未被承认的作用。无论是像 Deer 这样的杰出个体，还是作为母亲、祖母和文化知识的持有者，美洲原住民妇女一直并将继续维持与土地、语言和知识体系的联系，这些土地、语言和知识体系自殖民时代以来一直受到持续攻击. Ada Deer 在美丽的 Menominee 保留地贫困中长大，但她的非美洲原住民母亲对社会正义有着深刻的认识，Ada Deer 对原住民权利的追求源于她在与美国政府签订的条约中承诺的对美洲原住民主权的承诺.

在历史学家 Theda Perdue 的协助下，Ada Deer 的自传涵盖了从她 1935 年出生到早年在威斯康星州 Menominee 保留地的这段时间，到她在倡导恢复 Menominee 的土地和部落地位方面的成功作用，并以她在华盛顿的时间结束, DC, 在克林顿政府期间担任负责印第安人事务的内政部助理部长。在整本书中，我们都知道艾达的思考，我们见证了她雄心勃勃的雄心壮志，希望通过基于承认美洲原住民主权和自决权的政府关系来恢复美洲原住民部落、治理体系和经济。

对于读者来说，拥有包含体现 Menominee 权利的条约文件的附录会很有帮助。此外，由于她的政治化很大程度上源于 Menominee 的终止，对于那些感兴趣的[End Page 265]，这本书也将受益于同时包含终止行为和恢复行为。最后，在将梅诺米尼人置于他们的部落家园时，本书随附的地图将为读者提供地理背景，这些地理背景提供了梅诺米尼部落家园的大部分特征。